My Days With Margueritte: Film Review

An attractive coming-of-middle-age comedy, My Days With Margueritte exhibits a pleasantly light touch even when confronted with some fairly weighty issues. Some prone to attract audiences of the certain age, Margueritte could expand past the matinee crowd with encouraging word-of-mouth before finding even larger interest on DVD.our editor recommendsGerard Depardieu 'Sorry' for Urinating in Plane CabinGerard Depardieu Urinating on the Plane: Best Jokes In the WebGerard Depardieu Spoofs His Urinating-on-a-Plane Incident (Video)Toronto 2011: Shoreline Boards Gerard Depardieu-Harvey Keitel Comedy 'So I Say' (Exclusive) Germain (Gérard Depardieu), a 50ish, mild-mannered manchild who's one of the primary to acknowledge that he's a little of the loser, lives inside a trailer on his mother's property inside a provincial French town. Although he isn't the sharpest tool within the shed, he will get by with temporary construction jobs, compounded by selling produce from his home garden, when he isn't taking pleasure in a glass of vino or two with buddies in the local bistro. An opportunity encounter from our park by having an seniors lady (Gisèle Casadesus) looking at a bench and reading through aloud from the novel starts to change his perspective on which existence needs to offer, however. Margueritte ("with two T's") is really a retired person in her own 90s, still loaded with energy and joie p vivre. A shrewd and supportive judge of character, she rapidly dimensions up Germain, properly concluding that he's functionally illiterate, so she indicates he might enjoy getting her read to him. Curious, Germain accepts her offer and they are soon meeting regularly on a single park bench on her abridged rendering of Albert Camus' The Plague. Progressively she deduces from Germain's comments and behavior that despite his lighthearted attitude, he'd a hard, rather mistreated childhood but still endures a stormy relationship together with his constantly wigged-out mother (Claire Maurier). Margueritte's attentiveness as well as their shared passion for narrative start to persuade Germain to think about understanding how to read by himself, a near-paralyzing prospect, despite Margueritte's encouragement. Veteran French director Jean Becker, who co-authored the script according to Marie-Sabine Roger's novel, steers a satisfying course between empathy and outright sentimentality, with only enough comedy to prevent trite melodrama. Becker's serviceable style foregrounds the actors' fine performances instead of allowing them to wallow in moralism or emtionality. Depardieu, who formerly made an appearance in Becker's Elisa (1995), is frequently more credible as Germain compared to a lot of his more aggrandized roles, lending the smoothness an important depth of feeling and humor without involving in mawkishness or parody. Longtime actress Casadesus, who seems to operate nearly as frequently because the ubiquitous Depardieu, brings about good-natured humanity as Margueritte, her precise, clipped enunciation and incredibly proper manner emphasizing her genuine goodwill. Opens: Sept. 16 Production companies: An ICE 3, KJB Production, StudioCanal, France 3 Cinéma, DD Productions co-production Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Gisèle Casadesus, Claire Maurier, Francois-Xavier Demaison, Patrick Bouchitey, Jean-François Stévenin Director: Jean Becker Screenwriters: Jean Becker, Jean-Loup Dabadie Producer: Louis Becker Director of photography: Arthur Cloquet Music: Laurent Voulzy Editor: Jacques Witta No rating, 86 minutes Worldwide